Much like the products churning out of the First State’s first organic dairy, the people behind the family-owned business are anything but artificial.

Despite a chilly 34-degree temperature in the cooler area of the new 30,000-square-foot facility in the Sandy Brae Industrial Park off Markus Court in Newark, the company’s small, friendly staff exudes warmth.

Natural Dairy Products, founded in 1994 by Ned MacArthur and his father, Norman, has relocated its headquarters from Avondale, Pa., to Newark. Natural By Nature is its product line of organic, grass-fed dairy products, including milk, buttermilk, butter, heavy cream and yogurt.

MacArthur and his wife, Susan, brought the green-friendly business to Newark to expand product lines and grow the company as well as the staff. Delaware helped their decision along with about $275,000 in state incentives tied to the creation of 19 jobs and to offset capital expenses.

“This facility was built so that we could double our production,” Dawn Fenstermacher, general manager, said on a recent day inside the new plant, which has 18 workers. “We had no room for growth” at the Pennsylvania site.

Over the next year, Natural Dairy Products will likely hire an additional six employees for casing, packaging and warehouse duties. It took in its first milk truck on Aug. 30, and Sept. 11, marked the first day of production.

“There were so many reasons for us to come to Delaware,” Fenstermacher said. “But ultimately it was the folks at the state that were very helpful with the whole process. ... We’re a small company and they treated us like we were a big company.”

Its products can be found on the shelves of Newark Co-op, Harvest Market in Hockessin and just over the state line at Wholesale Foods in Glenn Mills, Pa.

The company’s milk comes from family-owned, small organic farms in rural Pennsylvania. Until the relocation, the all-organic product line was made at Longacre’s Modern Dairy.

“As quick as it’s made, it goes out,” Fenstermacher said. “from farm to plant to distribution, all within two days.”

Beyond the family’s passion, an unmistakable entrepreneurial spirit is behind the business expansion.

“When Ned hit a wall in the farming business, he innovated and started his own company,” said Gov. Jack Markell. “And over the course of two decades, Ned continued to innovate and find new ways to make Natural Dairy Products more successful.”

In this case, rather than hoisting a gigantic centrifuge from a stainless steel container – used to separate skim and cream from milk – by hand, the process is automated and hence complete with the touch of a button.

Keeping it green is also common practice inside the plant.

A trash chute sends recyclables to a compactor that compresses all packaging and waste from the production lines.

“That’s very important,” Fenstermacher said. “We’re all about it, right down to biodegradable trash bags. We spend the extra money because we know it’s the right thing to do.”

Partnering with a farm to produce a single farm-sourced, grass-fed, organic yogurt seems to be yet another right thing to do.

Expect production on that healthy snack to begin in spring as the company continues to branch out in Delaware, Fenstermacher said.